Summary

The increasing number of samples of zooarchaeological remains from the prehistoric Chimu settlement of Cerro La Virgen, on the North Coast of Peru, allow a comparison of consumption and discard patterns within and between households and neighborhoods. The information from this analysis adds to our understanding of economic and political realities of life in a community which would have to balance the demands of family consumption and the state tributes requested by the Chimu polity. Of special interest in this crucial scenario of food consumption in a state-level polity is the distribution of remains in floor middens and features in different rooms within a single compound and between alley dumps in different neighborhoods within the larger community.